I‘ve been looking for the term in English for this kind of gestures or ornamentations:
Figuration is understood in the music playing a melody in small note values, in contrast to an ornament. The melody is figured, that means varied designed. Figurations are unstressed intermediate or passing notes in the melody. Because they are unstressed, it does not matter that they can be alien. Intermediate or continuity tones can be diatonic (ladder-like, usually whole-tone-stepping) or chromatic (semitone-stepping and mostly non-conducting). Alternating notes also occur as figurations, upper or lower and again diatonic or chromatic. Similar to the melody-related change notes, there are also change chords.
In German this called figurierter bass and figurierter sopran or descant. If all voices are treated like this we call it: figurierter Choral:
„Figurierter Gesang, Cantus figuratus, Italian Canto figurato, is the name given to the song in which figures appears, and it is opposed to the planned chorale singing, who does not have these notations. The figures always consist of the main note, or the note which is actually required for harmony and from other reds belonging to harmony. These figures occur in the foreground in the main voice; and the others who serve her to accompany her have only singular sounds belonging to harmony. Often it is also true that, as the main voice lasts one tone longer, one of the accompanying voices makes a figure on it. Sometimes the figure sometimes even falls into the bass, which is then called a figurative bass (???) Figurierter Kirchengesang is the song that is decorated with the ornamental advice. Thus the choir is figurated, if the cantus firmus is kept in one of the four main parts, but is accompanied by figurative voices, which make many imitations, or have, indeed, been set in the manner of joints. In this way, the chorales of the church are projected forward, so that they can hear the melody and sing more easily. “
Now I have learnt, that figured bass is what we call in German Generalbass.
So I wonder if there are equivalent terms to describe this style for this kind of treatment. Maybe figurative bass and figurative Chorale? Or is it just variation?